Steeton u16s 3

Bingley Barca u16s 2

STEETON made it two wins out for two for 2019 with an accomplished performance against a spirited Bingley side.

In blustery conditions at Summerhill Lane, it was Bingley who made the brighter start. Good work down the right hand side resulted in a cross shot by the Bingley number 15, who narrowly missed the far post.

Two minutes later Bingley took the lead. A loose pass by a Steeton player resulted in a swift counter attack with the Bingley striker slotting past Steeton stopper Bradley Picken.

This was the wake-up call Steeton needed. A lovely passing move started by Ciaran Fleming and Harris Khan led to a through ball to winger Joe Lee who then shot at the goal but the goalkeeper tipped it over the bar. The resulting corner was headed over by Connor Andrew.

On 14 minutes, excellent work down the left wing by the lively Alfie Rutherford beating his man before crossing to Lewis Plumb and his shot went wide of the left-hand post.

Alfie and Barney Cope both went close to equalising, forcing the Bingley keeper into two excellent saves.

The Steeton pressure was starting to tell and the equaliser came in the 25th minutes. Lee beat his man skilfully down the right-hand side before powering into the box, his low drive across the goalline was deflected into the goal.

The chances continued to come, Plumb forced another smart safe with a 12-yard strike at goal.

The second-half again continued with Steeton forcing the pace. Another Plumb shot into the bottom left corner was saved one handed by the Bingley keeper, Joel Oxford followed in on the rebound but his shot was cleared away by a Bingley defender.

Then, against the run of play, a long ball over the Steeton defence caused some confusion, leaving the Bingley striker to round Picken and slot home.

Steeton showed great character to continue playing good football and not panicking.

Ben Sharp and Ciaran Fleming both went close with strikes from outside the box. Plumb had a shot turned over for a Steeton corner. Alfie Cope swung in the corner which was cleared to the edge of the box to Harris Khan, he controlled it on his knee before following into the top left-hand corner for his second goal in two games.

Steeton made it 3-2 on 65 minutes, good patient build-up play resulted in Ben Sharp creating space just inside the left-hand side of the box, his excellent shot across goal gave the Bingley goalkeeper no chance nestling into the bottom right hand corner.

Steeton continued to press for a further goal to put the game to bed with Barney Cope, Sharp and Oxford all going close.

With five minutes to go the Steeton right-back Sam Woodward was sent off following an altercation with a Bingley player. Steeton had to re-shuffle, moving Connor Andrew to right-back and Sharp into midfield.

A few nervous moments followed with Picken coming to the rescue, however Steeton held on with 10 men for a deserved victory.